The Circle

A forerunner to The Constant Wife-which was a hit with critics and A.C.T. audiences in 2002-The Circle begins 30 years after the fresh-faced and vivacious Lady Kitty left her politician husband for his best friend. Still vivacious (but not quite as fresh-faced), the exiled lovers flounce back into town just as history is preparing to repeat itself by wreaking havoc on the marriage of Kitty’s grown son, Arnold. Will practicality beat out passion this time around? Will Arnold’s straying spouse be influenced by her elders’ impetuous example? And will anyone be able to tolerate another game of bridge with the insufferable Lord Porteous? With class, brassiness, and unmitigated wit, The Circle is W. Somerset Maugham’s sly send-up of marriage, the leisure class, and the notion that young lovers never learn.

Mark Lamos directs.